Ready Player One
by Reno'sDemon
Summary: Modern day gaming fan gets pulled into Borderlands 2. She knows the game inside and out. Knows what will happen when. But she can't let anyone know. Won't stop her from trying to change it just to try to spare a few lives.


Blinking and wondering why it suddenly got so damn cold, I shook my head and groaned.

"You okay?" I hear a male voice ask.

"Besides wondering what the hell just happened, I think I'm okay." I replied. I sit up and look around as three others are stirring some yards from us. "Where are we?"

My partner shook his head. "Don't know, it's where we ended up when the train car exploded." From all my time playing through Borderlands 2, I knew this person on sight. He was the one I played as most out of the original four. The Commando, Axton. I look to my left, at the other three as they came over, and recognized them as Salvador, the Gunzerker, Maya, the Siren, and Zer0, the mysterious Assassin.

My jaw dropped.

No Fucking Way.

Was I actually in Borderlands 2?

How the hell did I get into the game?

You're probably wondering why I'm not freaking out. I am, just not in the way you expect. I wasn't freaking out, I was nerding out. Which was completely different. I've been a big fan of the Borderlands franchise since I played through the first one all those years ago. I had all the games, including the five-part episode series done by Telltale games, Tales from the Borderlands. Along with the games, I also owned every DLC and add on pack. I have achieved the rank of Badass Vault Hunter with every character each of the games offered. I have beaten this game more times than I could count. With the ever-fun Axton. I knew what was going to happen and when. I knew who Jack really was. I knew who the so-called Guardian Angel was.

I knew how things would end up. The Vault Hunters would fight to try to stop Jack from summoning the Destroyer only for him to summon it in the end. By the end of it, Roland would die as would Jack and Angel. And the most heartbreaking, besides Jack's death, would be that of Bloodwing, Mordecai's pet.

I knew I was forbidden from toying with the overall progress of the story, but that didn't mean I couldn't do my damnest to alter it at least a bit to try to save them. I didn't think I would be able to stop Jack from dying, but that didn't mean I wouldn't try. Bad guy Jack may be, but I liked his charm and wicked sense of humor. It's what had made him such a popular villain. While I mained Mordecai in the first one, Roland, the Commando of that game, had been a close second. Like Wilhelm was to Jack in the Pre-Sequel. Like Gaige was to Axton in 2. I had my mains and then my second favorite.

That made me wonder. Would the two add on classes, Gaige the Mechromancer and Krieg the Psycho, be here?

Since the four main classes were here, what was I?

And how would I get home?

I had so many questions.

"You okay, Kira?" Maya asked, looking concerned.

I nodded and took Axton's hand up. "Yeah." Kira. So my OC name was the name I had been given. I could work with that. "You guys okay?"

"A little rattled from the explosion, but we're good." Maya replied.

Salvador looked around and I was realizing how short the Gunzerker actually was. In terms of height, he was about as tall as I was, being a few inches taller than me, making me the shortest out of the five, with him right behind me. "Anybody know where we are?"

"Haven't the slightest clue." I told him. I knew, but I wasn't going to say. I wrapped my arms around myself. "But I will tell you this, it's cold as hell."

"Got that right." Maya replied, arms going around herself.

"Let's see if we can find some shelter from this storm while we figure out where we are." Leave it to the Commando to take command. Taking point, he walked away from the wreckage. With all four Vault Hunters alive and active, I wondered what in the story would change since the dialogue was configured for a single player and not a group of four. While the games allowed up to four players to co-op together, the dialogue was aimed at a single player and there were very few lines that were class specific, though Jack did have a handful directed toward each class.

With me and Maya behind him and Salvador and Zer0 bringing up the rear, we kept close together as we carefully made our way through the blizzard. Finding the sight because I knew what to look for, I placed a hand on Axton's shoulder and pointed. It was Claptrap, searching corpses.

"Great – another dead Vault Hunter. Handsome Jack's been busy." We hear him comment. He saw us at the same time we saw him and came up to us. "Wait a minute – you're not dead! YES! Now I can get off this glacier! Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has come in! Allow me to introduce myself – I am a CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap! Or they would if I had any of them were still alive. Or had existed in the first place!"

I groaned softly. The only thing I hated about Borderlands was Claptrap. Geez, he was annoying as hell. Maybe I can take a few potshots at him during our fight with Knuckle Dragger.

"Come, come, friends. Let's get you inside." He rolled away and we looked at Axton.

"If he's offering a way out of this, let's follow him for now." We kept him in our sights as he rolled ahead of us to a door and opened it.

"Well done! Your ability to walk short distances without dying will surely be Handsome Jack's downfall! Just a little added security. Gotta keep those Bullymongs at bay, or they'll rip your eyes out. Man, this is great! Now that I've met a mighty Vault Hunter, I can finally join the resistance in Sanctuary, take vengeance against Jack for killing my product line, and repair my central processor so I stop thinking out loud! I wonder what it's like to have a belly button."

I rolled my eyes. He was annoying as hell, but he had his moments. He led us into the main room and immediately, Maya and I rushed to the fire, putting our hands up to it.

"Sorry about the mess. Everything Jack kills. He dumps here – bandits, Vault Hunters, Claptrap units…If I sound pleased about this, it's only because my programmers made this my default tone of voice! I'm actually quite depressed! Now the creatures around here are dangerous, none more than this Bullymong named Knuckle Dragger – killed everyone I know. Anywho, I keep a pistol in the cabinet over there for emergencies, but in here, we should be pretty safe!" He's quiet for a few minutes. "Oh! I have something for you. Here – take these ECHO communicators that I totally didn't loot from those corpses. It comes with a class twelve heads-up display, complete with minimap!" He went to a table and waved a hand at it, where five wrist devices rested. Going over to them, I picked one up and looked it over.

"Looks harmless enough." I commented and handed them out. Knowing what would happen as soon as I had mine on, I went to look around. I put the earpiece in and a tiny screen came up over my right eye. I waited as it booted up, words popping up on the screen.

'BOOT SEQUENCE INITIATED. INITIALIZING…HEALTH DISPLAY MODULE. INITIALIZING…EXPERIENCE POINT MODULE. INITIALIZING…DIGITAL MAP MODULE.'

Like I expected, a woman appeared on the screen. "I'll explain everything soon, but know this – you're alive for a reason, and I…am here to help you."

"Uh-huh." I murmured, the sarcasm heavy. "I know who you are, Angel."

She blinked in pure surprise. "How do you know?"

Even though I couldn't say anything, it didn't mean I couldn't pull the tiger's tail. And I was going to have a ball screwing with Jack. "You'll find out in due time. For now though, tell Daddy I said hi." I tapped the ECHO comm and it cut the link. I couldn't help the soft snicker that emerged. I could see the look on her face now. Confused and probably curious.

I was going to have a one-sided adventure on my own. This was going to be fun.

I rejoined them as Knuckle Dragger jumped down the hole in the ceiling, snatched up Claptrap, took his eye, and left, dropping the bot.

"We need him to help us get to Sanctuary." Axton commented.

"And he needs his eye." I replied. "So let's look for some guns and get it back. But wait a minute." I held out a hand to stop them. Tilting my head, I watched Claptrap with a smile on my face.

"What for?" Maya asked.

I nodded to where Claptrap was bumping into things. "Enjoy this for a few minutes. You'll thank me later."

Salvador chuckled softly. "That is funny."

"Alright. Let's go." Axton told us after a few minutes. I drifted around to where I knew the pistol Claptrap had mentioned was located and opened the chest, revealing a selection of guns. SMGs, sniper rifles, and pistols. A red glow caught my attention and I went for it, grabbing it out of the pile. My eyes landed on the brand label and I grinned.

"A Maliwan Incendiary!" I cooed. "Sweet!" Incendiary was going to do some major damage. "This girl loves her elementals."

"Everybody get one main gun and a secondary." Axton ordered as he reached for an SMG and a pistol. Maya grabbed up two pistols, Salvador went for two SMGs and Zer0 chose a sniper rifle and pistol. Pursing my lips, I looked over the remaining guns. Another pistol or rifle?

Well, since I knew all the good spots to snipe from…

I grabbed a sniper rifle. I would share my spots with Zero. It would be a way for me to bond with the mysterious ninja.


End file.
